The following article provides a layout for building adventure modules. My goal is to provide a standard for adventure writing. This is useful for the Online Gaming project we are attempting to get started. Additionally if we have several Referees’ running the same adventure, with a standard layout they can easily pick up where the other left off. Of course standards help write the adventure themselves. A good start to adventure writing has been provided by Brian Conway in his article tilted Creative Refereeing, #7-p13. 

NOTE: The following section entitled “COVER” is optional. I included it to make the module complete from cover to cover. With my own writing sometimes I get bogged down finding just-the-right cover image to spending too much time writing the teaser text. The most important part is the adventure itself which begins at “REFEREE BRIEFING REPORT”.

The adventure name should be succinct, something catchy and relative to the story line.

A table of contents (TOC) will be listed along with credits to the author, editor and artists.

These sections start with an introduction to the players and begin the encounters they will face. Each section is designed to provide a single-nights gaming session, about 3-4 hours of playtime and has the following layout. (In the example below I will use Alpha)

This is always section 1 of the session, for easy identification by Referee's. This section is a recap of the previous session and an introduction to the current session. 

This is always section 2 of the session, for easy identification by Referees. Sessions can have many events/encounters designed to eventually lead to session's main event. Each event/encounter is numbered as a subsection of section 2. For example: Alpha 2.1, Alpha 2.2, etc. Events normally lack mapped encounter areas, but may have images, sections to read aloud, or handouts.They are often of one of the following event types: encounter, role-playing, problem-solving, or skill challenge.

Always section 3 for easy identification. This is either a keyed map area location or simply a main encounter/event of the sessions. Each keyed map area is found as subsections of section 3. For example, a corridor on a map for Gamma session might be labeled with a "6" to be described in Gamma 3.6.

Always section 4 for easy identification. This is usually a final role-playing event or sometimes just a moment to rest the characters. Sometimes it is just a boxed section of text to read aloud. It always includes experience awards, along with any other things awarded to the character for their efforts.

Next I'll use Beta since the Alpha section is complete, then Gamma, Epsilon and so on until the module is complete. Example;

This section is dedicated to the Players and may contain one or more of the following topics;

This section gives ideas for plot hooks and future adventures the Player’s may encounter down the road.

The teaser text should appear on the last page of the book, something to draw in the reader but does not give too much detail away. It should also have a picture representing a scene in the adventure.

Sometimes the back cover is a crop of the front page image zoomed in. Tips on Writing Modules

I use a piece of graph paper or blank sheet and write a simple introduction. Under the text I draw a box and fill in the first main event (Alpha 3.0). The next box is the second main event (Beta 3.0); the following box is the third main event (Gamma 3.0) and so on. I connect the boxes with lines, off to the side I write down encounter ideas that lead to the main event. Sometimes I use a random encounter.